


She Didn't Look Back

by Bunney



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2013-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-22 06:39:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/910094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunney/pseuds/Bunney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Draco/Hermione vignette with a happy ending :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Didn't Look Back

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://drcjsnider.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**drcjsnider**](http://drcjsnider.dreamwidth.org/) for the "I Want the Fairy Tale" Valentine's Day Challenge 2009 on [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=dramionedrabble)[](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=dramionedrabble)**dramionedrabble**. Prompt from "The Notebook" – "So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you."

  
**Title:** She Didn't Look Back  
 **Author:** Krissy  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Word Count:** 1150  
 **Warnings:** No warnings  
 **Summary:** A Draco/Hermione vignette with a happy ending :)  
 **Author's Notes:** Written for [](http://drcjsnider.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**drcjsnider**](http://drcjsnider.dreamwidth.org/) for the "I Want the Fairy Tale" Valentine's Day Challenge 2009 on [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=dramionedrabble)[**dramionedrabble**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=dramionedrabble). Prompt from "The Notebook" – "So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you."

 

 

If the bartender was surprised to see a barefoot woman in a billowing silk wedding gown, carrying her ivory sandals by their delicate straps, walk into his pub and plop down on the nearest stool, he made no indication. "Kenna get ya, luv?"

She was crying, so it took a moment or two and several cocktail napkins before she could answer him. "I don't drink," she declared with a haughty sniff. He chuckled. He'd heard _that_ before.

"Today you do." He turned to the back bar, watching her in the mirror as he poured two fingers of Glenfiddich into a glass. "Here ya go. Knock it back and you'll feel better."

She obediently took the glass he slid across the bar towards her and emptied it in one gulp. For a second, the bartender was impressed by her fortitude, but in the next second, her pretty face flushed crimson and she wheezed and coughed as the whisky burned its way south. "Dear Jesus!" she cried once she was able to regain her voice.

"Give it a minute, luv, and you'll be askin' for another," the bartender said sagely, propping his elbows on the bar as the woman plucked several more cocktail napkins from the napkin holder and blew her nose. With her fingertips, she pushed the glass back towards him and nodded. He tipped the bottle and added another two fingers to the glass. "A bit slower this time, hmm?"

Her elaborate hairdo was beginning to wilt, the white blossoms tucked into the curls falling one by one onto her bare shoulders. Her lips were as swollen as her eyes, and every so often, her breath would hitch in her chest, coming out as a soft sob.

"He did ya wrong, did he?" the bartender asked, returning the Glenfiddich to its place on the shelf, now that it looked as if the young bride was going to drink with a bit more circumspection. He picked up a towel and rubbed it along the edge of the already spotless bar.

"N-no. He's fine. Maybe not now...I...I ran away from my own wedding."

"I ken see that, luv. What with your lovely gown an' all." He sighed. He'd seen more than one bride with cold feet in his pub; it was one of the hazards of living in Gretna Green. "Don't ya think your young man will be worried about ya?"

She sniffed and lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. The liquor was beginning to work its magic on her frayed nerves. "He doesn't care."

"Now, how can that be? A young lady as beautiful as you are? I'll just bet he's searching for you in every nook and cranny in the Green."

She shrugged again, utilizing both shoulders this time. "It won't work. It will never work...we're too different, there's too much history...our friends, our families..."

"If there's love there, does any of that really matter?" the bartender said gently as the woman's tears fell again. "There must be or you wouldn't be here at all."

She sighed fitfully and brushed another fallen blossom from the top swell of her bosom. "I was in a hurry this morning and the spell didn't take," she said, as she lay the blossom on the bar next to her glass. "Sticking charms are tricky."

The bartender blinked, then shook his head. She was a slight little thing; probably couldn't hold her liquor and it had her babbling nonsense. "Sticky charms are a right pain in the arse, yeah, luv?"

She nodded woefully. Out of the corner of his eye, the bartender saw the door open, accompanied by the faint jingle of the off-kilter bell attached to the jamb.

"Granger! There you are! For Merlin's sake, darling, I thought I'd lost you."

A tall blond man with sharp, aristocratic features strode up to the bar, his eyes fixed anxiously on his runaway bride. He reached out and took her hand in his, clasping it to his chest. "Oh, Granger, look at you...you've been crying, haven't you?" The bartender huffed in annoyance. Couldn't her beau see that she was still crying, now in great, heaving sobs that shook free the rest of her flower-laden hair?

"It won't work, Draco! There's so much against us, so many things to consider..." she wailed softly, leaning forward and pressing her damp cheek to the front of his tuxedo jacket. With a tender expression only the bartender could see, the young man wrapped her tightly in his arms, laying his cheek against her dark curls.

"There, there, Granger, dry your tears and channel your inner Gryffindor. When have you ever run away from something that frightened you? Hmmm? You're brave and fearless and quite plucky, in fact. You can face this blindfolded."

"I'm afraid, Draco! I'm afraid that...that..." her muffled voice trailed off. The bartender leaned forward, unabashedly eavesdropping.

Draco gripped her shoulders and held her apart from him, so that he could see into her flushed, tear-stained face. "Afraid of what, Hermione?"

"I'm afraid that it won't work between us. What if this thing that we have, this whirlwind _thing_ , goes all wrong? What if...what if you wake up one day and you don't love me anymore?" Hermione pressed her hands against his chest, looking up at him with misery in her eyes.

Draco pulled her close again, holding her so tightly the bartender wondered if she'd even be able to breathe. "That will never happen, Hermione. Never! I love you, you silly witch!"

Soothed by her lover's fierce embrace, Hermione relaxed by gradual degrees; the bartender could almost see the tension draining from her spine. "But...Draco...how can we fight against our friends? Your parents? How will we do it?"

"Oh, Granger, you worry far too much. And when have you never been up for a challenge?" He looked back down into her face, smiling softly. "So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want you more than I've ever wanted anything. I've waited my whole life for you and I'll be damned if I let Potter or Weasley come between us. Not when we're so close to having our dream."

"Your father...he said he'd disown..."

Draco waved his hand in indifferent dismissal. "He'll come 'round. He always does. Especially after Mum works her magic on him." With a gallant flourish, he helped her to her feet, catching her around the waist when she stumbled. "Marry me, Hermione. Marry me and don't look back."

If he'd been a romantic, the bartender might have shed tears of his own when the bride, Hermione, bestowed a brilliant smile on her groom, Draco. She took his hand in hers and together they stepped out of the dark pub and into the bright afternoon sunlight.

And she didn't look back.


End file.
